solve
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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to find the explanation for or solution to (a mystery, problem, etc)
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maths
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to work out the answer to (a problem)
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to obtain the roots of (an equation)
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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solvesimple
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solvessimple
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have solvedperfect
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has solvedperfect
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am solvingprogressive
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are solvingprogressive
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is solvingprogressive
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have been solvingperfect progressive
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has been solvingperfect progressive
Past
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solvedsimple
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had solvedperfect
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was solvingprogressive
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were solvingprogressive
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had been solvingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of solve
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English solven, from Latin solvere “to loosen, free, release”
Explanation
To solve something is to find a solution, like figuring out the answer to a complex riddle. The verb solve is often used in mathematics, and it means to answer a math problem. You can solve other, non-mathematical problems too — like the question of what to wear when you've run out of clean clothes (your sibling's clothes!). The word solve originally came from the Latin solvere, which meant "to loosen or untie." If you think of any kind of complex problem as a knot, then the original definition of solve still makes sense!
Vocabulary lists containing solve
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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TEKS ELAR Academic Vocabulary List (5th-7th grades)
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"Kids Are Inventors, Too"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"In an attempt to solve the rehoming crisis, the racing industry had devised a program of sending retired greyhounds to the US and Canada," Field said.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Regan denies making the demand, and said the proposal is meant to solve an impending “catastrophe in California’s healthcare system.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
"The mystery we wanted to solve was whether this journey is actually possible," said Ojha, an associate professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
Ponder these questions and many more as you solve our very satisfying daily crossword.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
His mind raced as he tried to solve this unexpected wrinkle in his plan.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
But even when Kiki botches a delivery by dropping a toy mid-air, sending it tumbling into a nearby forest, a bit of reciprocal effort solves the problem.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
When we are asleep, our brain consolidates the memories of the day, processes emotions, and solves problems that defied it in the waking hours.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
Most filmmakers are tool agnostic, but lately Cardoza has become completely dependent on Seedance, he said, because it solves a persistent problem: maintaining character consistency between shots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
“The innovation itself is remarkable. It’s not obvious to me which unmet consumer need evo uniquely solves, especially at roughly double the price of pods.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
He is very intelligent and he solves the mystery and he says The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.
From "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon
However, it has not solved what philosophers call the "hard problem" of consciousness.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 30, 2026
Deng and his collaborators solved a problem within broader attempts to mathematically connect equations governing the motion of gases from the smallest to the largest scales, according to the university.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
“I’ve never solved a problem so quickly, before or after.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
"Midea solved this problem in quite an interesting way," Denis Yurchak, a Vienna resident, tells the BBC.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Now, you probably know that for every world-famous, history-changing invention ever created, first there was a problem that needed to be solved.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
Watching “Scooby-Doo” as a child, I came away with two clear ambitions for adulthood: a side gig solving mysteries and a refrigerator always full of sandwich ingredients.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2026
Yet the women who ate during a shorter window of time of eight to nine hours were found to perform better on tests measuring spatial planning and problem solving than the 12-hour group.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Despite those comparable results, the women who ate within an eight- to nine-hour period performed significantly better on tests measuring spatial planning and problem solving than those who continued eating across 12 hours.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
Both won for solving problems that have baffled mathematicians for more than a century.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The key to solving the actual genetic code was to map the elements of a sequence in an RNA chain to the sequence of a protein chain.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
